This invention relates generally to the field of deferred action batteries and, more particularly, to a seawater activated deferred action battery having an improved depolarizer material comprised of cuprous thiocyanate, free sulphur, a form of carbon and a binder.
Silver chloride-magnesium seawater activated batteries are well-known in the prior art and have been in use for many years. However, these batteries are not only expensive but consume, without possibility of salvage, a relatively scarce precious metal. Prior endeavors have been made to develop a non-silver bearing depolarizer for use in seawater activated batteries. An example of one such endeavor that utilizes a depolarizer of heavy metal derivatives of aliphatic acids is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,316 to Koontz. Such compounds as cuprous chloride, cuprous iodide and lead chloride are additional examples of prior art depolarizers which have been used in seawater activated batteries. However, many of these batteries have suffered one or more disadvantages of having a relatively short operating life, short storage life, or relatively low output voltage per unit cell.